Agent 30A
by Versteckt
Summary: She always told herself that this wasn't her fault, that they were the reason that things got this far. However, she made her choice, and it was one that cost her more than she ever wanted. But now, as Agent 30A is given a new assignment, she will also be given a chance at freedom from her past mistakes. The genre may or may not fit the story; will be changed if not.
1. Between realms

**Agent 30A**

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**A fair "Greetings" and hearty "Welcome back" to everyone. What you see here is the first chapter of the reconstructed Agent 30A. Do keep in mind that while some chapters will be very similar to what you've seen in the past, others (like this one) will be completely new. My hope is that all will enjoy what this has and will become, new and old audience members, alike. That is enough chatter from me, though; on to the story.**

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kid vs. Kat, or anything that I use from its pre-existing universe. Everything from there belongs to the show's creator, as well as the Disney Corporation. I only own the characters that I created for this story.

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**Chapter 1: Between realms**

With a deep gasp, and wide, blood-shot eyes, a bright-Thistle-colored Nebulan shot up from where her body had previously lied. Still panting, she first looked up at the single, broken and flickering light, above, before anxiously swiveled her head from side to side, a sense of dread slowly beginning to overtake her already taxed mind.

Other than what was above her, the surroundings, under normal circumstances, should and _would_ have provided at least some form of comfort. After all, despite the corridors and floors being barren, they were made up of large, square, metal frames that was of the purest white she had ever seen. And even then, everything was lit still lit by the brightest lights and only added to a falsely-tranquil environment, as they gave the walls a gentle glow to them.

But alas, there was no peace to be had in this, no hope. Instead, what lied before her was something horrible, and the dead-quiet made everything worse.

"Damn it, not again." She swore to herself. That was, unfortunately, one of the few moments she always had to get a grip on everything. This phase, 'The Waking', as she had grown accustomed to calling it, never really lasted for too long-the same dread now having poisoned every corner and clouding her sense.

It was a four-way crossroads that she was now getting up to face, all originating from the flickering block that she was still standing upon. She tried to gain control of her breathing, but it only grew heavier and heavier, with each look her eyes took at those surreal, four corridors. The situation was always so desolate, crushing. And as everything fell back into their disheveled place, the poor female roughly grasped her head and shut her eyes tightly, readying her now waning focus and memory for another attempt at escape.

She had been here many times, before, and she knew what was going to happen next. If this attempt was unsuccessful, if she couldn't get out, like every other time…then _it _would appear, again, and she hated it. After getting the "procedure" done, there was little she was ever afraid of, but this thing candidly scared her to her very core.

"**Let me leave. You let me leave!**" With no more time to lose, she turned and bolted, immediately scrambling down the one to her left. The Nebulan continued to go down that hallway, without incident; a good sign, to be sure, but she was far from out of the woods.

As she approached what looked like the same spot as where she started, she noticed that the flickering had gone by a bit faster, this time. It wasn't by much, in fact, it was barely noticeable at all, but it was a giant relief to her.

"Good*Pant*…just like last time. Now I*Pant*I have to go straight!" And she did just that, knowing not to even pay the slightest amount of attention to the other three corridors. "Don't look…don't look! Just don't look and you'll do fine! You're doing just fine!" She continued to tell herself, as she heightened her speed and seemed to have finished yet another passage.

Again, the destination was back to that flickering spec of an area, and the speed of the flickering only increased. She continued to follow the same process again, and again, and again. Go to the left, then go straight, go straight again, then go back, to the right, to the right, back, straight, back, left, and so on. She just kept going and going, as that patch gradually flickered more and more, beginning to show solid seconds of complete darkness, with each apparently correct section she decided to run down.

Like usual, the muscles in her body seemed to burn at a painful, great intensity, with every step and every completion. It's always as if the corridors themselves were draining the energy she had, right out of her.

For the sixteenth time, she had reached a correct corridor, and was now heading towards that same patch. "Come on! I've got to reach it—C'mon!" She yelled in frustration, putting as much extra energy as she could spare into reaching that area, the unstable darkness now being at optimal-enough levels to hopefully pass through.

Even still, a sense of uncertainty came to her mind. Would she really just be able to pass through this, like some sort of portal? It was always just a hope, but there was no way to be sure. And if that were really the case, was escape by plunging herself into the darkness actually possible? Is it truly the only salvation from this awful situation? Whatever is in that darkness, could it even be conceivable that something much worse may be lurking behind it?

Letting those thoughts distract and trouble her yet again, she proceeded to shake them out of her head. Compared to what she's running away from, there isn't anything that could possibly have been worse.

However, she didn't need to worry about that for very long.

As the frightened creature was closing in on it, and was just about to touch that absence of color with the tip of her claw…it flicked back off; she missed her chance. Going as fast as she was, and putting her body in such a compromising position, she had fallen face-first, tumbling hard onto the cold, hard, metal floor…a foot past that one, still blinking patch.

Her body spent from all of that exertion, she lied there, shivering and taking in as much air as she could; so much so, that it began to hurt.

"G…Go…GO! Got to go…g-get out!" The shear, primal fear and desperation she was battling fueled her aching limbs, onward. This was fine for her, though, as long as she could keep it from penetrating her mind any more than it has.

"NO! You won't! You can't! Not this time!" She might have still had a chance, yet. Finally, after a painful struggle, she slowly rose back to her feet, and made another break for it.

The target, this time, would be a turn to the right, she was sure of it. Another successful turn, past the previous location, and the Nebulan was headed towards the center, once again. This time, though, as she continued to run towards the center, she noticed something. The flickering had stopped. In place of what should have been there was a center block, equally as lit and white as everything else.

Her head-long bolting slowed down to strides, then to a jog, and then a slow walk, until at last, the progression ended at a complete halt. The upright ears on her head lowered considerably, while she confusedly fixed upon that section, sucking in more oxygen, utterly baffled by yet another failure.

"I…I had it right…there's no way." Unfortunately, her thoughts and blank gaze were interrupted by a single whisper…

_"Wrong_."

That was the first sign of what she had been dreading, all of this time. She didn't have time to wonder about it, now; she had to get out as soon as possible. The next phase had initiated now: The Hunt. Favor was surely not on her side, as truth of knowing that trying the process again wouldn't work, combined with the distraction of another wasted attempt was the nail in the coffin for everything to start coming in, and it tore her mental defenses down far too much.

Now, the utter terror she fought against spread throughout her like the a rabid fire, finally wresting control of _all_ of her functions, and it made her chaotically flee into whatever corridor she could.

_"Wrong…" _

The word relentlessly repeated in a gentle, but cold and accusatory tone. Haze and distortion started to replace the usual, perfect surroundings, as well as each of the well-lit areas beginning to flicker about.

"Stop it!"

As she kept running, the one whisper soon turned into many, some male, some female, and even that dissolved from a simple word to numerous ones of varying, hostile intent. The metal walls around her-all losing their masks of peace and beauty-began to twist, and warp, with some flying right off of the assumedly securely-fastened walls.

And while the area descended into chaos, so did her mind; the one thing she always tried to prevent, above all else. The voices clawed and ripped at her thought process, mutilating it. Massive and painful confusion abounded. Where was she? _Who _was she? Was this a dream, or was it reality? Did she really want leave, or stay?

Her legs felt as if they were on fire now, and she needed to rest, just for a little bit. Falling right onto her knees, the tortured, young woman wept violently, unable to get everything that was falling apart back in order. Everything hurt so, **so much! **

She knew that it had long-passed that time again. It was still coming, and coming soon, and she had to get going, had to get out…but she couldn't; she had to try to face it, again. The 'flight' response had then turned back to 'fight', as she gritted her teeth and summoned the willpower to use more of her depleted reserves to stand, one last time. However, as soon as she turned to face what was behind her, claws flashed out and ready to strike, that last bit of bravery quickly began to falter.

A jet-black, female, Nebulan figure stood about fifteen feet away from where she was, its body looking to be a what appeared as a hunched position. The form, itself always twitched about and crackled, seemingly trying to keep its form stabilized in the area they were in. It was almost as if it were some creature from a corrupted video, come to life. But despite everything else, the part that truly destroyed her confidence was its face: featureless, except for a smile that extended far beyond any natural limits, and what looked to be two, white, pinpricks where the eyes might usually be.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" She demanded at the silhouetted thing, but it gave no verbal response. In place of that, it slowly and unsteadily raised its posture. The Thistle Nebulan visibly cringed, as it did so, due to the disgusting crunches it made, finishing with a final, viciously violent snap of the neck. Urges for vomiting from having to continuously view this never failed to accompany the display, especially as the head was now in an abnormally-tilted position. After fighting to keep the internal fluids down, she brought her claws up and started to make them twist around.

_**"If anything is going to do damage to this thing, **__**these**__** would be it!" **_The would-be attacker wishfully thought.

Faster and faster they went, until they became one of the traditional buzz-saw weapons that her people used. This tactic did not work for very long, for as she lunged forward to strike, one raise of a single digit from the other creature made them go out, instantly.

She stopped, distanced herself, and looked at her paws in horror, realizing that yet another power was permanently disabled by it. That was number eight of the inherent sixteen ways she might have been able to hurt or even kill it, and now it was deleted, just like the rest. Her one shot gone, and her _true_ power still unavailable, she turned to run, knowing that any other attempt of assault would yield no results.

…She did not get very far.

With a yell of pain, the Thistle-colored female soon lost all feeling in her limbs, followed by her entire body being lifted up into the air and harshly constricted from the inside.

"Wha*Cough*What are you-argh! I c…can't—*Gasp*can't breathe!" The levels of agony ceased to stop, as she felt the pressure increase a thousand-fold on her form. And, as it did so, the shadowed figure began repeating the first word that always comes…

_"Wrong_…"

However, when it started to actually approach her, the phrase would become very much distorted from the way it originally sounded. That…horrible term it kept spewing out, spewing out right at her, hurt almost as much as the constrictions it made. Her screaming from the suffering was getting louder, minute by excruciating minute.

After what felt like hours of arduous torture, in addition to the warm feeling of tears, another warm feeling and the sound of tearing had cropped up on one of the areas where the pressure was most extreme: her abdomen.

Soon after, another came on her left leg, then one on her arm…now, another on the back of her head. Some were small, some were large, but more of those sensations had appeared everywhere. Come the one on her forehead, she finally knew what was happening to her, but didn't dare to try and look at it all, lest utter despair take whatever sense of hope was left in her system.

"Stop! P—Please, I'm begging you! Don't do this! **PLEASE!**" The Nebulan cried, but to no avail, whatsoever. Finally, it said something, but it was so distorted, that she couldn't begin to place it. This always happened before the third and final phase…The Climax.

_"Selene…?" _It barely registered with her, but a new voice made it through the warped void, a familiar voice.

_"Selene…!" _It echoed throughout those terrible halls; so comforting, but not enough to quell the peaking anguish.

_**"WAKE UP!"**_

* * *

Immediately, after screaming herself awake, Selene got out of her bed and looked around her darkened room. That voice was her brother's, he was the one that got her out of that nightmare.

Sweating and panting with panic, she continued to try to adjust her wet eyes and find the healing sight of her dear, younger brother. Though she couldn't immediately see him, the longer she looked around, everything began to look more in order.

Selene recognized the blackened outlines objects like her display in between the two windows, the television and work-desk in one corner of the rectangular room, her nightstand by the bed, that wretched cycle celebration gift of a mirror her mother gave to her, opposite to the to the first few items. Then there was her closet, off to the left side, the elevator door on her right, and so forth.

"Karlson! Karlson, where are y-?!" She was cut short by the horrifying sight of the being that preyed upon her, constantly. It just stared at her, with that awful, wide smile and tilted head.

"No…"

_**"**__**Se…lene…**__**" **_It sounded out, still managed to come out in a guttural and twisted manner.

As she stood there, paralyzed by and shaking with fear and disbelief, it slowly raised one of its claws and steadily began to approach her. The way it did so, though, seemed to be almost cautious; curiously different from how it always behaved, but it was probably just some kind of trick to get her defenses down.

"Y…you're not real! It's not possible! I-I woke up, I'm awake!"

_**"Selene…? Seleennee…?"**_ The creature asked out in a mocking, musical tone, faintly laughing the entire time.

"Why are you-?" She let out a gasp, once its smile broadened in knowing, and its claws flexed outward. But Selene was sure that she was awake this time, even if this thing somehow came to the waking world with her. Her 'fight' response fully kicking in, again, she raised her own claws.

"Get back!" Suddenly, it let out a hideous scream, as its arms instantaneously flew backward. The body quickly followed suit with this, and it hit the bedroom wall with a violent slam, its smile and "eyes" disappearing as it did. It was a pleasant sight to see, for her; that monster finally getting hoisted by one of those abilities.

"Don't like it so much on yourself, do you, bitch?" She hissed out with as much venom as possible. A haze fell over her mind, and blocked out everything that was around her. Logic and reason was thrown clear out the window, and she was engulfed and flooded in a dark passion.

"So…You're in my world, now, huh…?"

As it lay there, more injured than Selene thought it would be, she approached it with a furrowed brow, bared teeth and watering eyes. Somewhere in her brokenness, what little sense remained within Selene guessed that she's not real, but even if she was just going to end up tearing up the wall…

"I don't care!" She growled, moving her head from side to side so hard in her paws, she thought she was going to shake it off her own shoulders.

Now that it could be damaged, she had to see if it would work, this time; she had to know if she could kill it. And if so, she would do it in the most satisfying way possible. Oh, how she was going to make this thing suffer. Just nice and slow.

Her paws back down to her sides, the Nebulan unsheathed her silvery, metal claws, as they then began to start glowing before quickly turning into a blinding white, a light, humming noise coming from them. She continued forward, trying to shake out the rest of her lingering doubt. The closer she got to it, the more her body quivered and ached with unknown anxiousness and want. "Well, then, I'm going to pay you back for everything you've done to me-"

"Selene?! What's going on in there?!" A new voice called out, along with the sound of pounding.

"Selene, you open this door!" It was her parents. At hearing their voices, she turned her attention to that door, in confusion.

"S-Selene? Have y…Have you come out of it, yet?"

That voice, again…it couldn't be him.

"Please, come back, Selene! I don't know what you think you saw, but It's me-it's your brother!" It quivered and pleaded with fright.

The black, shivering form at her feet. The pounding and yelling from outside the door. She really was back, this time…unless this was some new development to deal with. After frantically looking back and forth, she made a decision.

"If you move one inch, I'll tear your head a new one, you got me?" The Nebulan ordered, uncertainty dripping from her words. It gave her a single nod, and she moved backwards, to where the banging was coming from, claws still glowing.

Once reaching and feeling the wall long enough, Selene had finally found the light switch she was looking for. With one click, her entire room was illuminated, once again. Her proverbial heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, after that. It was indeed Karlson…a very pale and scared-looking Karlson…tucked into a little ball, on the floor.

"Karlson…?" She asked with a hopeful tone.

Still shivering, he gave another nod; it was all he _could _do in response to such an incident.

"You…you woke me up from that hell. You woke me up, and I tried to…you're…but you're not supposed to…"

Selene kept doing this for a while longer, blank eyes staring at him, as though in a trance. The pounding on the door still went on, as he still lied there.

Eventually, the full weight of their situation seemed to concrete itself within her, because she quickly and harshly slammed her paw onto her door's frame. Following said action was a film of what looked to be some sort of energy running over the entire room, before disappearing, seconds later, as did the external noise. Finally, they were in complete silence.

Once completed, a look of fury came over Selene's face, as she then proceeded to run over to her brother and forcefully lift him by the shoulders.

"Why'd you have to come in here?!" She yelled, fiercely shaking the frightened sibling. "**WHY KARLSON?! **You know that you're not allowed to go in here without my permission, especially while I'm asleep! How many times do I need to tell you, huh? I can control it better if I'm awake, but if I'm not, then I'm almost **powerless **to stop it! What has to happen before you get that—What?! Do you want this to happen again, and again?! Or maybe you want what was going on here to finish?! 'You _want _to die?!" Completely wordless by the outburst, he only shook his head as an answer. "Then I'm only going to say this one more time, and you listen up good!"

She brought their faces so close that their noses touched, her eyes burning with rage. "Zviadi Karlson Tremmers…stay out of the way and stay _out of my __**room!**_"

Huffing from her words, she slowly let her brother down again. His body looked to have failed him, though, as he immediately dropped to his paws and knees, lightly sobbing in his fear.

Seeing this painful reaction out of him was all the stress she needed left to break her after the night she had had, making Selene's own limbs grow weak, as she fell, too.

"Oh, Karlson!" She cried, tightly embracing the male in a blubbering mess.

As the two siblings cried in each other's arms, the previously-placed film lifted up in the same manner to how it fell. After finishing, it was still a few more minutes before her door had finally opened. Their parents were about to enter and scream her ears off, put stopped after seeing the heartbreaking sight in front of them, all of their anger now evaporated.

"I'm so sorry, Karlson. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me." They heard Selene, as she was softly weeping into her brother's shoulder.

* * *

_"Marvelous. Absolutely lovely performance, my dear. Top paws, all around."_ A feminine figure gently applauded at the orb of light in front of her, speaking in a smooth, English accent. _"So beautifully unstable. You never do fail to surprise us, do you?"_

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**And that was the end of the first chapter. As always, I encourage whatever feedback you may have for this production, so long as they are constructive to the cause. As you know, this could be accomplished through either a review, or a private message. So, on that note, I wish all a fine day. Until the next chapter. **

** Author's note: Again, the names "Karlson" and (later on) "Eleanor" are more-or-less the "official" names of Kat and Dr. K...if the wiki was anything to go by. I, myself would not have chosen such common names for them, but until proven otherwise, they are the ones that I will be using. However...those names were viewed quite a while ago, and they could have very much been simple fan-creations. Perhaps I should continue to give this situation a bit more thought...**


	2. Flashes of Concern

**Agent 30A**

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**Finally, after a ten-month period of silence, I have come back to this dear site. I cannot apologize enough to those who were/are actually invested in this story, but things are beginning to look up. You see, through my quiet-time, I have been looking through some things; evaluating the characters and the plot. Letting a lot of it play through my head like a television show. Analyzing. And, now, I have much to show you all. But let's take it one step at a time. For the time being, it is time to continue.**

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kid vs. Kat, or anything that I use from its pre-existing universe. Everything from there belongs to the show's creator, as well as the Disney Corporation. I only own the characters that I created for this story.

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**Chapter 2: Flashes of Concern **

_"Forgive me for intruding, sister, but you have been at this for quite a while now, and our greater number has asked for me to give him an update."_ It was another female Nebulan that carefully and quietly entered the dark room the first was in. As she finished approaching the slightly older one, and graciously bowed, she curiously looked into the ball of multicolored light the other gently held front of her. _"So, tell me, how is the progress of her development advancing?"_

She turned to her and gave off a warm and affectionate smile in reply. _"Welcome back, my dearest sister, welcome back to my Gallery."_ She greeted. Her voice was as calm and cool as always.

The figure then turned on display lights inside, revealing shelves upon shelves of spheres, similar to the one she had out, contained in technologically-specific canisters. They all showed various names of what she'd always assumed were from the inhabitants of their planet, and were obviously exhibited as if they might be trophies of some kind.

_"The maximum number has increased to seventeen at one time. All were treated with as much attention and care as the last. Impressive, wouldn't you agree?" _

The recipient of the question somewhat ignored it, and ceased to gaze around. It always made the younger one frown to see this room, especially since she had seemed to gather so many more, since the last time she was there.

_"But enough of my boasting. Come, come. Take a look for yourself, and see my new masterpieces. I think that you will find a few of them to be most intriguing."_ She said, finishing off with a soft giggle, almost sounding excited for her to follow her direction.

An uncomfortable look befell her face, as she brought her full attention back on her. _"…Sanaa, I-" _

The Nebulan started, reaching out to her shoulder. However, she promptly halted her advance. She was under orders, so now was not the time to try at another little 'chatting session'. _"Right. So, the update on our dear Miss's progressions and developments. How goes it?"_

_"My, my, my…it's not like him not to do something like this, especially since he knows that I was in the middle of painting. The good Nebulan must be more eager than I thought. At any rate, tell our greater that he should be rested on this subject; she still responds well to viewing my work. At least, that is what I would tell you, as per usual, but this time, our little curiosity mostly acted upon a personal accord."_

She took out a pen from the pocket of her coat and quietly nibbled on it, while the other observed. She only did that when thoroughly intrigued by something, which was made clear by the way she stared into the orb, elbow resting on top of her other paw.

_"This thing that enters her mind, it's not of my doing…"_ Another turn to her and the previously pleasant grin soon turned insidiously sly. _"Regardless of how much we may hope to currently know about her, it goes to show that she remains to be very unpredictable, maybe even unstably. There's the potential that this might cause possible setbacks in the future, but right now I can only appreciate just how fascinating a creature the Miss is becoming."_

After a bit of silence between them, being that she just continued to gaze at the sphere, the slightly more youthful of the pair figured it was about time to speak up, again. _"*Ahem* Well, then, I suppose that I'll take the news to our greater number. I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear what you've had to say."_

Feeling that that would be everything she would be getting from her, today, she performed a second, courteous bow and prepared herself for the exit, not wanting to endure much more exposure of the Gallery.

_"Oh, sister…?"_

She turned around to apparently continue their conversation. _"Please, do keep in mind to refrain from calling me by that sincerely dreadful name. You will try to do that for me, yes?"_

* * *

"_No, please don't! You want your home back? Take it! Just don't kill us!"_

_"O-Or maybe we can be valuable to you all! Really, we can!"_

"Ah! W-Wait!"

_"My Son…my beautiful son…I'm so sorry. He's infected you with so much cruelty, so much hatred, and I can't help but blame myself for setting you down this road, in the first place. Because of him, you're doing terrible things—things we couldn't have even imagined."_

_"And yet, despite all of the suffering you've caused, you still have our love. Please, no matter what happens to you, you must always, always remember that we love you__…and that y__ou will always be my gentle giant."_

"Unh! You can't! You can't do this to your own parents! Look at them!"

"Focus on ONE, Selene, you have to focus on one!" It was a bright, early morning that this took place-a few nights after her most recent incident with her brother. Inside the air-tight security of her secluded, personal laboratory, a white lab coat-wearing Nebulan scientist known as 'Dr. K.' was holding her weekly examination of Selene, her closest friend.

She and Karlson had her hooked up to a specially-designed mind converter; a very large and very expensive machine that was made up of numerous, smaller, tower-like machines, built in a semi-circle that surrounded her form.

Being that there were so many components to it, she was attached to each one of them, via various electrodes that were placed on certain parts of her body. Of course, she was seated on a circular, elevated platform that was at the center of the immense gadgetry. The purpose of the platform was to keep her circuitry's energy levels at optimum efficiency, due to the entire process being so, very unnaturally draining to her.

Now, at about thirty minutes in, even the pad couldn't help much. A profuse level of sweat ran down her bright-Thistle skin, as a heaving chest accompanied her failing, meditative position, her face twisted in a deep grimace while she breathed through her teeth.

Eleanor and her brother were watching the screen that connected to her converter, trying to get a clear picture at yet another flash she was seeing, before switching again. It was another unfortunate side-effect of the "procedure" that she went through.

* * *

About a week after development was well underway, Selene had started to experience visions that can only be described as mental flashes—small fragments of memories, based on her frantic descriptions. Oddly enough, it wasn't _her _past that she was seeing, though. These visions were of other Nebulans and the lives that they had lived.

They came from seemingly different walks of life, and some were better than others. This in itself was not horrible, and a few were even fun to see play out. But, eventually, as the snippets of their histories continued forward, they all had begun to unhinge. She saw and felt things-awful, horrible things-which no Nebulan should ever experience on any level. Sometimes, she even became these Nebulans, losing all sense of self, including her own speech if they were severe enough.

The visions…they clung to her like a desperate, ravenous parasite; taking bits and pieces from her already stressed and increasingly-fragile mind, and replacing them with its madness, one flash at a time.

* * *

For a bit, her current flashes ceased, giving her the freedom of not being forced to react, once again.

"You know I can't do this, Eleanor, it hurts too much! J-just shut off that stupid machine and get these things off of me! Quickly, before-Aah! Another one's getting dredged up! Hurry!"

"No, not yet! You're doing so well, Selene, and you've already passed by all other attempts! We need to be able to see what you see if we're going to find a way to help!" She yelled back at her from the viewing console. Selene's body started to jerk as her teeth bore in a snarl, veins beginning to show on the Nebulans' forehead from the stress.

With a twitch of her drooped ears, she barely opened one eye and swerved her head in the direction of a sudden, intrusive beeping that sounded. Consequently, both Karlson and Eleanor looked down at the watch-like devices they wore with fret, as the lit up and cried their now annoying and unnecessary warning. But she took it, anyway, and tried in earnest to fight the urge to go too far into her mental realm. That was, until a third flash fought back.

"_How in the great Nebula do you think that this is possibly a good idea?! Do you really think that he'll help you bring this-this madness on everyone?!"_

"Anh! You're crazy! You're all crazy!"

"_**Wrong…**__" _She winced at hearing that dreadful word. The monstrous thing really did pick the worst times to show itself. As if the flashes weren't bad enough, now it was trying to bring her back deeper into that place she hated so much, and she was still trying to get out of it from a few nights ago.

"C'mon, sis!" He pressed, "You're always going on about how strong you got, so don't be a weakling and let them beat you! I want to see you get that breakthrough! I want to help you get past this!"

Selene only growled at him. "Karlson! Re-Remind me why-urgh! Remind me why you're here, again! I thou-I-I thought I told you to stay back in the Vault, near the Activator! You can't be this close to me, anymore!"

Through the voices and pain, she vaguely heard him yell back something about helping build it and needing him. He wasn't lying.

In fact, he built and designed half of the converter, so of course he knew how to keep the machine stable. But that wasn't what she was worried about. She had hurt them both, at some point or another, due to the actions that stemmed from the effects of the procedure. None of it was ever intentional, but the danger she posed to them was growing with every passing event, despite their precautions and defenses.

Selene couldn't handle losing either one of them because of something she might do, but if a choice ever had to be made between the two, she would always pick Karlson—no questions asked. The Thistle female did nearly everything she was willing to do to keep him from getting too deep into all of this, to keep him from getting hurt any further, but he just couldn't stay away.

Soon, another flash dislodged her current thoughts.

"_A-Are you even a Nebulan…?" _It was a simple question, one asked by someone who was very clearly petrified by fear. She was in an empty, large, circular chamber, with odd energy restraints around her wrists and ankles. The light above her hanging head shielded her identity, but as Selene stared at the forcibly-knelt Nebulan, through yet another's eyes, she sensed an air of familiarity about her.

All of a sudden, she shuddered as a sense of terrible cold washed over her body.

That never happened, before.

Each of the other twelve individuals she had already seen histories of might have caused some reactions in their own right, but never while she was inside of these little, conscious fever-dreams. Then again, there was something very…off about this one, even compared to the others.

"_**Wroooong…**__" _It teased, cutting her off from seeing deeper into the vision. With a grunt of effort, she tried to put more energy on circling that focus back to the memory, but that voice kept piercing and piercing, with each utterance; it put an unneeded strain on her. And while she continued to exert herself, Karlson and Eleanor kept watching the screen, urging her onward, due to getting some sort of clearing video.

This didn't help.

Their responses intermingled with the voice that continued to mock her, to stab at her, and the increased irritation ascended further, soon reaching anger. It already thoroughly clouded them before, but now it had warped their words, so that everything grouped together to make something quite condescending. The increasing beeping added fuel to her fire.

"Shut up! Everyone just shut the hell up, already!" The processing through her mind now complete, both of Selene's eyes shot wide open into a deep and burning glare at the both of them. In fact, it was so intense that she looked as if she were going to outright attack them.

"And I **said **to _turn. IT. OFF!"_ Suddenly, Dr. K's machine started shudder and shake, lightly. However, as the short time passed on, the light movement grew more and more intense. Soon enough, her converter was juddering very violently. It was also starting to get hot…very hot.

Not long after this new change, it began to glow an orange-red and radiate its own aura of heat, electricity crackling like lightning in a storm. The screen itself was becoming distorted, along with the imaging they had. From past experience, things had gone past the point of no return, now. She slowly began to back away from both her precious machine, and Selene.

"Karlson, we've got to get to the Vault…" She warned.

Unfortunately, though, her words ran on deaf ears, as her partner just stood there, eyes now locked with his sister's.

"Karlson, we have to go, now!" Eleanor now yelled at him, but alas, he stayed in place, wordlessly defiant. Finally having enough, she ran up to him, and latched her arm into his, forcefully beginning to tug and pull towards the direction of the room.

It was when she looked into one of his eyes to scream his head off that she noticed something.

She could see fear on that face and in those optics of his, but also a fierce determination to stay put. He was going to try to calm her down again—she knew it. Based on Selene's reaction, though, it probably wouldn't work, this time. He only ever had a fifty-fifty chance of ever succeeding, anyway.

The heat of their converter had become so intense that it caused the two latter Nebulans to sweat quite a bit. And yet, he still stayed locked, as if he were in some kind of trance, obstinate to stay the course. If nothing else, that unwavering and foolish stubbornness was a trait the two siblings both seemed to share with each other.

Not knowing just what might happen if whatever was happening continued any longer, Eleanor gave one, last tug, freeing him from his sister's invisible hold. "You idiot! There's no use! Just run! Get out of here!"

Together, the two ran as fast as they could, away from the main lab room, and down a small hallway, that led to the Vault. The chaotic noises from up ahead grew in volume, which in turn made Eleanor's terror of the unknown escalate. Acting quickly, she punched in a ten-digit code at a lightning-fast pace on the display next to the small, metal, reinforced door, and they hurried inside it. Not wanting to run the risk of even looking back, the pair entered and hastily shut the rest of that world out with a heavy thud and numerous clicks and clangs.

For a small frame of time, there was nothing but the sound of their monitors and complete darkness, as they huddled together, eyes shut and teeth gritted, against the sealed barrier.

Unfortunately, the partners could not start up the Activator until the climax of Selene's storm had passed, and her stress levels were depleted to safer levels. Otherwise, it could end up damaging her more than she already was. It was an inherent risk of its incomplete and imperfect design that they were not willing to take.

A muffled, but loud rumble caused them to gasp, their eyes to burst open, and their ears and tails to stand straight up in panic. It was followed quickly by another, and then another. In fact, they were going off so fast after each other that it almost sounded like fireworks.

That was until a final, painfully-raucous blast sounded off, and they soon cried out, feeling their bodies lose all sense of gravity. Their minds were dizzy and disoriented from the unseen and concussive force, until everything came back in the form of pain from being crushed under the weight of what was obviously their previous protection.

As they heard the consecutive crackle of fire, alarm blaring, and then the sprinklers go off; they lied there as quietly as possible, unsure of how to yet respond to the situation. Maybe it was only the many explosions that caused their misfortune, but if it that wasn't the case, if her storm was really just beginning, then this would be a very…different problem to tackle. But after what felt like ages had come and gone with nothing happening, the Nebulans softly got out from under the ruined door, albeit still with extreme caution. The alarm from before had shut down now, so that made it easier to hear anything unusual that might be going on.

Both Karlson and Eleanor searched the comparatively unscathed, sizable room, their guards up to one-hundred and fifty percent, and their frames bathed in a dull, red light.

"I think the worst is over. Eleanor. Go into to the armory and get the Activator up and running." He ordered in a hushed whisper. She nodded and proceeded, onward.

Not far from the male Nebulan, she eventually found another door, and entered without a second thought. At the center of this smaller she was in sat a large, simple, and cylindrically-shaped machine. It would have most resembled a metal pipe, if not for the many circuitry routes that were visible, as well as a small parting in the middle of it. Once there, she summoned a holographic display and typed in certain, specific codes and ciphers. It took no less than a minute to finish, and for the Activator's routes to light up with a blue energy. An almost mute whirring came within range to signal its start-up.

Eventually, after some short diagnostics, Eleanor had returned to Karlson's side. "There aren't any problems, so it's all up and ready to go. Now…" She closed the distance between them, placed and activated their personal force-fields, and presented him with something in the shape of a common blaster, "Here's your disruptor."

"What for?" He hushed, visibly insulted and unnerved about seeing the weapon. "I keep telling you; if that Activator's good, then it'll just go off in a few minutes and end this! Besides, we have these fields, now, so we shouldn't need to use that thing, again! Don't you remember what it did to her, last time?!"

Her ears lowered as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Do _you_ remember what happened to _us_, last time she was strong enough to blow through the both the door and its shield like that!?" She quietly hissed, roughly poking his chest with her digit while he returned the glare. "She was locked! She messed with our data so bad, it nearly fried our circuits! Come one, Karlson; think with your head! We're the only hope she's got, and if anything happens to us, she's a goner! So if we don't want that or something worse to happen, then we _have_ to have these if she's still around!"

At this, Karlson could not argue and held his tongue, remembering that rare but painful event. He sighed in a resigned annoyance and tentatively wrapped his paw around the disruptor's pistol grip. The two then slowly made their way back up the now low-lit, humid hallway, trying to be ready for anything, sweat from the anxiety and uncomfortable, atmospheric moisture sliding down their foreheads.

As they continued to ever-so-carefully toward the disaster area, backs together in self-defense, they steadily began to realize something: their monitors were no longer going off at all. In fact, the devices ceased their noise after the final blast destroyed the Vault's door.

This caused the pair to breathe a sigh of relief, and lowered their raised disruptors. No sound meant no Selene…probably.

The possible threat now presumably passed, they more causally completed their journey back to where the converter was, although still a little on edge. After all, their monitors may have stopped going, but that didn't mean that she had left. She could still be around the lab, somewhere.

An eternity had passed because of their lackluster speed, but they were finally able to get back to the converter area, and Eleanor rushed to get the backup lights on to see what had become of their machine. The sight that her eyes took on made her want to pull her ears off in anger. Nearly half of its form was blown to pieces—smoke and electrical discharge flowing and leaping from its insides. All that was left on the platform were the electrodes, and an open doorway confirmed their hopes of Selene's leaving.

"Dammit, not **again**!" The scientist yelled, throwing her disruptor hard onto the floor. This was the umpteenth time her friend's lack of tolerance had prematurely halted their acquirement of a reasonable amount of any useful information, and she was completely sick of it. Karlson was silently observing her from behind, waiting to see what to do, next.

"Every time! _Every damn time_ this has happened! We try to do our best! We try to help her in any way we can! And how does she repay us? She just destroys it! She just destroys everything-all of our efforts-over, and over, and over, and OVER! She's such an ungrateful bastard! You hear me, Selene, you selfish bitch?! You're ungrateful!"

If it were anyone else who insulted his sister like that, Karlson's blood would have become so corrosively-molten that he could dispatch them within a few seconds. However, he held back with Eleanor, and he knew why. All the male did was look downward, dejected, as she continued her verbal onslaught on an individual who wasn't even there to hear it.

With her done at last, and her breathing becoming labored and shaky, the female promptly broke down and fell to her knees. As her silent sobs echoed around the chamber of her broken laboratory, she repeatedly slammed her fist into the metal floor, leaving a small crater.

Finally having enough, the male speedily came to her level and held her tightly. In turn, she spun around in his grip to embrace him, full-force, and wept into his chest. His eyes clenched, a steady stream of his own cascaded down, their tears mixing on the ground.

"Why does she have to keep fighting us, Karlson?" She asked in a strained voice, "It's only a matter of time before we can't even _try _to help her! Doesn't she know that? Doesn't she want to get better? Doesn't she want things to go back to normal?" Her grip tightened so much, it began to hurt him, but he didn't care. "I know she was hurting! I know why she did it! But I just miss the old Selene too much!"

The tears intensified. "…I want to get her back! I want to get her back, now!"

He kissed her on the top of her head and increased the strength of his own grip. "I do, too!" He said in a quiet, failing voice of his own.

* * *

"Augh!" Selene yelled out as she kicked her metal bed-frame with as much force as she could control. Naturally, this only added to the many, other dents that had already accumulated on the object.

"Why can't you do it!? You just need to focus on one! Just one, single, frame would help them, and you can't. even. do. that!" Another four dents followed. Pain had now enveloped that leg, but she payed no real mind to it. She wanted to keep taking her anger out on that frame, but had to remind herself that if she wasn't careful, she would destroy the supports. Well…destroy them at a faster rate.

Panting, with fury still coursing through her veins like a drug, she pounced on top of the mattress, rage flowing from her mouth, and had her violent way with most of the many pillows on its edge. After those were gone, all she could do, now, without completely destroying the room, was screaming into the remaining ones as hard as possible.

…Eventually, she calmed down.

Feathers floated and flitted around her sleeping place, as she stared up at the ceiling with a deadpan expression, her body splayed about, and the great stress of her previous situation causing her mind to buzz with soft whispers.

To try and keep focus, Selene brought her attention to a single feather, and blew on it at a soft pace. There were a couple of times where it got close to tickling her nose, but she managed to keep it afloat. Unfortunately, this did not succeed in keeping that same stress and buzzing from increasing in ferocity. She groaned and rubbed her head, trying to stall the itching that resulted from gaining any more traction. That was the last thing she wanted to deal with, at the moment.

She inspired slowly, and then expired, all while successfully shielding her face from that unassuming, would-be, visage-assaulter. Her grip was still especially tight, but she was still weak, and could feel that smallest opening warning to appear.

"Yet again, twice you have been tested, and twice you have failed, completely." A gentle voice suddenly sounded from the southeast corner of her room. It spoke with a familiarly odd brogue.

Second. That was the second to last thing she wanted to deal with.

She immediately stopped, the feather finally finding its intended target. "Not now." Selene directed, although secretly thankful for the distraction.

"And why is that? Because you are upset with yourself?"

"No shit, Sherlock." She continued with her previous task, not about to let that darned feather keep winning their struggle.

"Well, now." It replied; calm, as always, but clearly showing that it had been disrespected, "I see that you retained very little from my past, side-lessons on proper etiquette."

With another groan, this time of annoyance, Selene rolled over so her back faced the voice's direction.

"Do not blame me for your bungling in your direction. And ignoring me will not make me leave, Miss Selene. It never does."

It had a point.

"Besides, one would think that, by now, you would have become hardened to experiencing these failures."

A third, louder groan escaped, and she finally sat up in her bed, turning to look at the mirror in that corner. Following a flick of her paw, an odd black and white aura appeared around both it and her appendage. With a see-able bit of essay on her part, it lifted up and gently floated to her bedside, showing not her own reflection, but instead that of another Nebulan.

She was a radiantly-white, smoothly-curved woman with a noticeably higher height and age difference, the female's unnaturally-erect ears adding to her stature. Her face was soft and nearly expressionless, not including the piercing, intelligent, glacial and empty eyes she possessed.

This female truly was an oddity to her species, and her most distinguishable feature further exemplified this.

At the center of her forehead lied a set of three, inverted, intersecting, stylized triangles, similar in design to Selene's single one. The aforementioned crossing of the shapes created a small diamond at the bottom of the design, colored the exact same as the most prominent of the three: a bright-Thistle, interestingly enough. The other two were a solid black, and were responsible for making the vertical rhombus.

"I'm not in the mood for you, today, Oanez. What do you want?" Selene coldly asked, as she turned to her uninvited guest with a glare.

All Oanez did in immediate response was place her arms behind her back, and give a patient, waiting gaze. The silence between them lasted for a bit before the mirrored image closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, her chest expanding and contracting ever so slightly.

"What I 'want', as you so-crudely put it, is to talk, Miss Selene. That is all I ever desire. Nothing more, nothing less." She said, the only thing moving after that being her tail. It was always moving, that tail; free and as smooth as water.

"Of course it is, straight-ears." She replied, rolling her eyes. "Why couldn't you have just been one of the voices in my head, huh? They're a lot easier to deal with than you are. Sometimes, I can even get them to go away. It's only you that gives me the really bad headaches."

Her eyes opened up at hearing that. "Would you rather that I was the creature that stalks you at night, perhaps?" She tilted her head quizzically, face unchanging.

Selene was about to give a snide retort, but stopped in her tracks. Having this thing stare back at her was much better than that thing. "Well…no, I guess not."

"Then there you go." She completed by giving her a one-handed offering gesture and a small smile. "Speaking of her, I wished to converse with you about that general subject. This is the eighth time you have failed to escape either her reach or quite frankly, the Halls in general. I must admit, I am becoming a tad concerned with your lack of cognitive progress."

"Ugh. Here we go with the "progress" stuff, again." She huffed, "What _progress_ do you keep talking about? What's my goal supposed to be? Is there something special that I need to be doing there, besides trying to escape or, you know, actually survive? Should I be looking for an object? A certain door? Do I need to find a way to activate my other powers? What? All I could find out was that that stupid, blinking light is involved, somehow, that's it. That's all I go for, but that's the only option I can see."

"Again, I apologize, Miss Selene, but you know that I cannot tell you what you are progressing towards, nor how to progress to it."

Selene looked down at her paws in irritation. "Or maybe, I just need to find a way to kill that…thing." She picked up a feather from her bed sheet, and held it in one of her palms with scorn. A few seconds, later, it burst into flame, becoming nothing but ashes not long, after that. "If only I_ could_ use my other powers in there, my _real _power, then she'd be gone in an instant."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oanez shaking her head disappointingly. Her ears lowered, knowing what would come next. Out of everything this Nebulan did, this was the most grating to endure.

She immediately covered her ears and shut her eyes, trying to block it out the upcoming event…but there was no stopping it.

Without warning, Oanez immediately split into three of herself in the mirror. One was her original self, while the other two were silhouetted copies. Said individuals held a single, white, inverted triangle on their foreheads, while hers was left with the Thistle one.

"So, the Parasite continues to devour her?" One of the black figures asked this, still in Oanez's odd voice.

"Indeed, it does." Oanez replied. "She unwittingly feeds it by refusing to acknowledge its severity."

"So I have seen." The other silhouette stated. "She is still under the impression that it is under her ownership."

Selene knew where this was going, and she didn't want it to continue.

"I _am _in control! Have you not seen what I've been doing? _My_ powers keep growing and developing, but I'm still taking it well in stride! How is that not being in control?" She defensively asked, their words still worming themselves into her skull, but the Oanezs paid no attention to her and continued to talk amongst themselves.

"She claims to know of its true meaning. She claims to know of it's purpose."

"On the contrary, her situation is the exact opposite in nature."

"Quite. She continues to loose and entangle herself in its deadly throws, you see."

"Quit it, Oanez! I don't want to hear your nonsense!" Selene yelled, back still turned to the mirror.

"Oh? My, that was unusual for you. Are you looking into the field of verbal artistry, by any chance?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I was merely attempting to voice my thoughts in a way that might be a touch more interesting."

"By no means did she insinuate offense with that query. Take into account that it was a rather fascinating turn you just took. Very unexpected."

"For Nebula's sake, do you _ever _shut up?" Selene snapped.

"But let us not distract ourselves, further. Could she be a hypocrite? A dullard? You must admit, her rash and unstable methods and ideas are growing in psychological popularity."

"Is that your way of trying to be cute?"

"No, I believe that is her way of trying to make sense of Miss Selene's delusion."

"I'm not listening, you know! You're not going to get to me!" She clenched her teeth tightly.

"The words "Hypocrite" and "Dullard" are being a bit jarring on the poor girl, do you not agree?"

"Yes, I do; much too insulting to her character. I believe the term "fool" would suffice well enough."

"Oh, yes. That is indeed a much better word to use. It flawlessly accounts for her uncouth behavior in all branches of thought."

She didn't know just how much more she could take of this.

**"Your way of going about this destabilizing situation that you created is becoming increasingly inappropriate and burdensome, Miss Selene."** All three spoke at once, obviously in her direction, now. **"You must dispose of your cowardice, if you truly wish to absolve yourself."**

That was it. That was where she reached her limit. Oh, how she taunted her with her vagueness.

"Yup! Right there! That's it! That's always what I need from you! I mean, it's not like I'd like you to be straightforward, or simple, or easy, or distinct, ever! No-ho, no, no! I actually like it when you just keep doing shit like this, instead! Oh, thank you, great Oanez! Thank you for always being the huge, cryptic pain in the ass you alllways are!" Selene sarcastically countered, angrily flopping back onto her bed with a soft thud. Instantly, she was caught in a new blizzard of feathers.

"Oh, why am I talking to you, anyway? You're just another by-product of my procedure, right? It's not like you're real."

"So you say to yourself. And, yet, here we are. Obviously, you have grown quite comfortable with the thought of interacting with me as you would Karlson, Eleanor, Iysle, or any of the others, for that matter. Does that not fit your parameters of reality, enough? Or have you already forgotten just what your reality is?"

She turned to the mirror to argue with what she assumed were still three Oanezs, but found that it all that stared back at her was her own reflection. Selene let out a sigh, and looked to her right. Sure enough, a reformed Oanez was lying there in a coffin-esque position, staring up at the ceiling with those untroubled, blank eyes. She relinquished her feelings and decided to copy her position, and stared as well. The young woman stole a few glances, wondering if she was going to say anything, but at the same time, she somewhat relished in this new-found quiet.

Despite this being's irksomeness, there was really no point in Selene staying angry with her. This was just how Oanez was. It was her nature to be like this, and she had learned a while back that staying mad at her just wasted too much energy.

"Your reality has become devitalized, Miss Selene-broken." She finally spoke, "But we all still have our purposes within it. We all have a reason to be where we are, right now. You have yours, and I have mine. That said, at current, you are naught but a shell; infected by the uncertainty of the Parasite."

"It wasn't always like that, Oanez." The young woman sadly whispered, "I used to know. But now? Now, I'm just wandering in the dark. I haven't the slightest clue about what's going on, anymore."

A few more minutes of silence passed by, and playful expression replaced Selene's dispirited one. She turned on her side to face the white Nebulan, paw rested on her cheek, who now gave her a questioning look. "'Don't suppose you'd tell me what yours is to make me feel better?" She jokingly asked.

She breathed and closed her eyes, clearly in deep thought. The Thistle triangle on her forehead lit up for a few seconds before returning to normal, and she opened them back up. "Knowledge untainted by falsehood brings great suffering to those who are unwilling or ill-prepared to accept it. How that applies to you, at this point, is uncertain. We must be patient and see what unfolds."

Selene laughed at this and shook her head at that last sentence. It was a light laugh, but it was genuine. In a way, it always amused her how she could manage to stay so hazy. "Ah, same, old straight-ears; I needed that." She may be annoying and obscure, but she was still the only individual she could really talk to about things like this. The others might at least try to understand some of the things Selene never told them-albeit probably out of pity-but they'd never be able to.

"You know, I'm not usually one for this sort of thing, but you know what I could really use right about now? A good hug. How about it?" Selene inquired.

Oanez just emphasized her initial, questioning look.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with asking." She shrugged with a friendly smirk.

"Selene?" A voice sounded at the door, quickly catching her attention. She knew right away that it was Karlson.

"Are you awake? 'You feeling any better?"

"'_Am I awake'? He must have decided to give me some time to cool down. But how long was I away? Wait, how long was he at the door for? Did he…?"_

She shook the thoughts out of her head and, before answering, turned back to see that her tiresome companion was no longer there.

"_Gone, like usual."_

"Yeah, Karlson. Hang on a minute. Let me just take care of something, first."

She got off of her bed and grabbed her still-floating mirror with her paws, then proceeded to take it back towards the southeast corner of her room.

"_No—No, I'm sure he didn't. I was too quiet."_

* * *

**As always feel very free to voice yourselves on this. This time, I will give you fair warning; this will still be a fairly-slow process. All that I ask is that you are all patient with me, as shall be giving my best effort to shorten, and to _keep_ the waiting period shortened.**

**Author's note: There was no, true order to which Oanez was speaking to which. They were all Oanez, and she was merely conversing with herself. By the way, in case you are wondering, I feel that I should tell you that the names "Selene" and "Iysle" will be pronounced as (sə-LEE-nee) and ****(iz-lə) respectively, in English. And, yes, Iysle's character has indeed yet to appear. But it will not be too long.**


End file.
